Last week, I attended Ultrax’s Open Day on “Speed, Acceleration, Deceleration & Programming”. During the Q&A session, a female track & field coach asked a desperate yet insightful question:
“My 9-year-old son trains with a top youth soccer team. They practice five days a week, each session lasting about 90 minutes — and all activities are soccer-specific. Shouldn’t they also be doing other types of training or activities at that age?”
Does this sound familiar?
Why do so many youth coaches — even at the early stages of athletic development — focus almost entirely on sport-specific activities during practice?
Let’s take a closer look at this issue, which is one of the main reasons many youth coaches (and their athletes) struggle or fail in the long run.
General vs. Specialized Training
General (or multilateral) training includes activities that differ in form and dynamics from sport-specific work.
They don’t teach the techniques or tactics of a particular sport but instead build the foundation for athleticism — developing broad motor skills and underlying physical abilities. Children who build a strong base through multilateral development perform better in sports than those who don’t.
The figure (Bompa, 2000) below illustrates how the ratio of general versus specialized activities changes with age.
Between ages 6–12, the emphasis should be on general and multilateral activities.
From age 14 onward, specialization can gradually increase, while general training should still remain part of the program.
Even in the later, more specialized stages of development, youth athletes should still spend 20–40% of their time on general athletic training.
If young athletes train mostly through sport-specific activities too early, they risk:
Limited overall motor development
Increased susceptibility to overuse injuries
Repetitive stress and burnout
